Eyes Wide Open
by The Wise Duck
Summary: There was a moment at the end of the battle that left Kim shaken and questioning.


Kim Possible and all the characters contained within are the sole property of Disney.

The situations and contents of this story are mine and are intended solely as recreational and for the enjoyment of myself and other fans.

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_What am I doing here?_

The fact that this particular 'thought' occurred to the young woman sitting in the darkness, sitting in—

And it was where she was sitting that added so much power to the torrent of emotions within her.

The ruins of the only house . . . no . . . not house . . . home . . . that she had ever known.

The form of the teen was hidden from the street by the piles of rubble that surrounded her but it didn't matter. The darkness hid her well known thick fall of red hair just as the green work jumpsuit she was wearing hid the scrapes and bruises caused when she had been unconscious and carelessly thrown to the side by an alien conqueror. And despite the coverage of the jumpsuit . . . she was shivering.

She really should not have been shivering. It was a warm June night and there was a fair breeze . . . but it wasn't fresh. It carried the stink of smoke and destruction and the slow decay of plant life which had helped save the day but which now was rotting away.

Three days worth of decay in the warm early summer days.

But there had been no warmth in the chores of the past forty-eight hours. Friday evening everything in the world had changed in ways she had never believed or predicted, with events she had a hard time fathoming.

And one of the hardest things to fathom was when she and her family came home after their reunion of survival to find their home completely destroyed.

It had been very fortunate that her boyfriend's house had come out virtually unscathed. This had allowed her shocked family at least a known and friendly refuge to escape too although things had been very tight. Her Nana had taken the guest bedroom as per her status as an elder, her folks had slept on the sofa bed in the basement den, her brothers and uncle had slept on the floor of her boyfriends attic room and she had slept in on the daybed with her BF's adopted infant sister.

Saturday had with the dawn had brought the chaos of the press and the government. She and her boyfriend had been the center of a whirlwind that still had her head spinning. There were questions that were being asked that she didn't have the answers to and several being asked . . . as well as several that she was asking herself . . . that she really didn't know the answers too—

And those questions . . . all involving the most important boy in her life . . .

They had not had a chance to talk to each other to find out just what had—

Kim Possible remembered lying there on the ground with her eyes wide open—

Staring.

Now she was staring into the darkness even as her hands gently caressed—

When she and her Best Friend/Boyfriend Ron Stoppable had at last been able to break away from the chaos—

By then, the rest of her family had been exploring the ruins of their house for several hours. The daylight had brought the true horror of it all—

Nothing seemed to be left.

But she and he . . . they could explore only a little while.

For there was a little matter of a graduation from High School that had been interrupted by her kidnapping and an alien invasion that took over the world (in the time it took to order pizza)—

In the ruins of the football stadium where she had led her cheerleading squad so many times . . . where her boyfriend had at last 'stepped-up' and had set new running and rushing records for their school and state—

At least she had been able to get new robes to replace the ones destroyed by the guardian ray in the alien spaceships prison, but she had insisted on actually receiving her diploma in the torn ones she had fought in, changing into the good ones for photos immediately afterward.

And Ron—

Her boyfriend . . . who 'had to be true to his essential 'Ronness'', lived up to his reputation of 'never to be normal' by showed up wearing the rocket propelled space suit that he had been wearing when he had defeated two superpowerful aliens who had—

Kim remembered being down on the ground staring at him, her mouth hanging wide open—

With an overwhelming need to get back to some kind of normalcy, the Middleton Graduating Class of 2007 held a huge bash at 'The Tiki Torch' club and beach on the shores of the refurbished Lake Wannaweep. She and Ron had left late in the evening to the cheers of all their friends—

They had gone off together and while the speculation probably ran rampant as to what they did after they flew off in her Sloth with the last view everyone had of Ron holding her head and kissing her—

She remembered as she lay on the ground staring at him, that her emerald eyes were as big around as saucers—

Kim Possible squeezed the object in her hands, desperately attempting to find comfort and solace out of it—

She did not fathom Ron's explanation that night. She knew absolutely that he was telling her the truth but she just couldn't believe—

Sunday came with both of her parents having to go to their respective places of work to try and help pick up the pieces. Her dad's mom went with her mom to help at the medical center while her uncle returned to Montana to assess the damage there. This had left her as being 'the adult' trying to help her brothers with what was salvageable from their home—

Ron of course was there and had been a load of help but—

She couldn't help remembering how she was staring with her eyes wide open—

She also intentionally kept her search party focused on the parts of the ruins of their home that she didn't want Ron or the boys to help her search—

She returned to the ruins of their home after dark, telling both Ron and her family that she was going to help a girlfriend from school who needed assistance—

She was that girl—

She wanted to be alone . . . in the dark . . . as she searched the ruins where the debris of her bedroom had come to rest.

She wanted . . . she needed . . . to know the fate of three things—

And she wanted to be alone when she found what she would find.

The CD of pictures/memories that Ron had given her for Christmas was intact (the CD had been Ron's gift last Christmas, their first Christmas as Girlfriend/Boyfriend, a 'return' gift for the CD she had given him the year before).

The photo of her and Ron . . . together forever for the first time at the junior prom . . . nothing remained, the frame, burnt/twisted/broken . . . was all that there was.

Pandaroo—

Kim squeezed in her hands the remains of her longest owned childhood possession, charred . . . torn . . . missing one limb—

Her longest childhood possession . . .

Ron . . .

He had been with her longer that Pandaroo.

Kim Possible remembered being on the ground, eyes wide open, as big around as saucers, mouth hanging open in—

It had been equal parts amazement—

And fear.

She had been afraid of Ron.

He had done something she couldn't . . . she didn't have a . . . he had just . . .

And then he had held his hand out to her . . .

A smug smile was on his face and she could almost hear without the actual sound or movement Ron's 'boo-ya' victory dance—

She was amazed . . . and afraid . . . staring at him with wide open eyes—

Battered, bruised, battle askew hair hanging down in her face—

She took his hand with no hesitation . . .

NO hesitation!

Ron drew her to her feet—

She continued to stare—

But that moment of no hesitation had changed EVERYTHING!

For that stare . . . once she was standing . . . had been one simply of amazement!

And it had lasted all of one second!

She then, with a speed only possible for this Possible, wrapped Ron Stoppable in the hardest, tightest, most intense embrace she would probably every experience.

And he had simply pulled her closely, tenderly, lovingly into him with a not-smug smile on his face.

Kim Possible realized that she was clutching the remains of Pandaroo to her chest.

She realized—

Childhood was over; things would never be the same again—

Ron would never be the same to her again.

And yet . . . in his arms—

He would always be true to his essential Roness!

And as she had said when Ron Rieger tried to interrupt when his oh so lame—

Ron was 'HER' Ron!

Yes . . . she had been afraid . . . yes she didn't understand . . .

But she had already told Ron that she was scared . . . about graduation . . . about the future . . . about . . .

And there was no one else in the world other than Ron that she could have EVER made that confession too—

She knew . . . at a level more than instinctively . . .

That she could tell him about this as well . . .

And they would work it out.

For as she had said on the way to graduation (the first one), she had 'told' the future that she was ready for anything that it could throw at her.

On the night of her high school graduation . . . her world had almost ended. But the reality of it was . . . that a new world had just begun. And that she had a bondiggity BF/BF who had a spankin new set of abilities for her to learn about . . .

Yes! She, Kim Possible, was scared of what was to come. But that was life. And her life . . .

Well, it was all about adventure.

And all of her adventures had had a certain boy at her side watching her back.

Now maybe, she would have a chance to watch his?

There was no maybe . . . they would be true partners in every sense of the word.

She would like that.

She also realized that she was now quite warm and comfortable.

Kim Possible rose from the ruins of her home, still clutching Pandaroo to her chest. Things were clear to her now. The wreckage had been her home, and it would be rebuilt. But that shouldn't really matter now. For she had a future to look forward too. One where she could create a new home for herself—

Create a home for herself and Ron, together as one.

A future that she could see coming with her eyes wide open.

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A/N: That look that Kim was giving Ron after he came down from defeating Warhok and Warmonga has been haunting me no end so I had to get it out of my system with this little ditty. So now I can go back to What She Can't Say with a clear mind (as if that has EVER happened) and get it finished up.

I Remain As Always

Your Humble and Devoted Servant

The Wise Duck


End file.
